Third Candidate Turns Down County`s Top Computer Post

Although more than 250 people applied to head Palm Beach County`s revamped computer department, officials are finding it hard to get someone to take the $70,000-a-year job.

The county spent $6,762 to bring in seven candidates for interviews in February, but the three top choices all turned down the job once it was offered.

The latest decline came on Tuesday, after the county flew in its third choice this weekend -- at the candidate`s request -- for one more look at the county. The cost of the extra trip was about $600, Personnel Director Brad Merriman said.

``Maybe I wasn`t so bad after all, guys,`` Property Appraiser Rebecca Walker said at an earlier meeting when the problem first surfaced.

Walker had managed the department until September, when officials questioned having an elected official supervising the county`s information center. Walker resigned her position and threatened to remove her office and the Tax Collector`s Office from the system.

Members of the Information Systems Services board, which includes county constitutional officers and two commissioners, asked Merriman to come back next week with the top 10 names from the remaining candidates.

In the meantime, the board recommended commissioners approve a 90-day extension of a contract with Noe Santamarina, a private consultant who has been managing the department since October.

Santamarina is being paid $75 an hour, which amounts to $156,000 on an annual basis. Santamarina has been on board six months, meaning he has already earned $78,000.

Some board members expressed interest in keeping Santamarina on for another year, but Commissioner Mary McCarty wondered if he was out of the board`s price range. She suggested pushing ahead with the search process.

In other action on Tuesday, the board recommended purchasing a new IBM computer to meet the county`s growing needs. Officials credited Santamarina with negotiating a good contract.

Total payments associated with the new computer would be $147,557 a month, while it would cost $163,877 a month with the existing computer. The payments would be extended over a longer period of time with the new computer.

Officials said IBM will take back the old computer and rip up the previous contract -- even though Santamarina said the computer`s market value is only $25,000 and the county still owes $800,000 on it.